The decomposing body of Anita Clark – covered in bedding and bags – was stuffed in an upstairs closet of her home in Stoughton.

The 46-year-old mother of two had been stabbed more than 20 times, authorities said. She had defensive wounds and there had been a struggle.

Some of the roughly 20 Clark family members and friends sobbed quietly on Monday in Stoughton District Court as they listened to a prosecutor describe Clark’s violent death – allegedly at the hands of her former husband.

Boston police arrested her ex-husband, William Foster, 47, of Dorchester, in Mattapan Monday morning after a citizen called in a report of his missing 2001 Pontiac Aztek.

“Because of that one call, we’re here today at an arraignment,” Norfolk County District Attorney Michael Morrissey said in a short press conference outside the Stoughton court.

Foster was arraigned Monday afternoon. Judge Richard Savignano ordered Foster to be held without bail.

Clark and Foster have two children, who were not at home at the time of the slaying and are with family, according to David Traub, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Stoughton police were called to the home Saturday for a well-being check after friends and work colleagues could not reach Clark, a phlebotomist.

Officers noticed an odor in the home and found Clark’s body at 7:20 p.m. in the closet, said Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Lynn Beland.

Authorities said they believed she died last Wednesday.

The slaying, if Foster is convicted, would be the fourth domestic-violence murder in the state in 2013, according to Brockton-based Family and Community Resources, Inc.

“As we mourn the death of Anita Clark, we must all also ask ourselves what we can improve so as to prevent another death in the future,” spokeswoman Toni Troop said in a statement.

“We believe that domestic violence homicides are preventable,” she said, “because they are among the most predictable of murders.”

Clark’s family members in court did not identify themselves; one woman said the family would give a statement to the media in the coming weeks.

Foster, represented by Cambridge-based lawyer George Murphy, pleaded not guilty and will be back in court on June 7 for a probable cause hearing.

Beland said Foster has convictions for larceny, drugs, attempted robbery and assault and battery. He has served time in state prison and county jails.

Morrissey, the district attorney, would not speculate on a potential motive for the murder, and said police have additional evidence they believe links Foster to the crime.

Traub could not say how long the couple had been married or if Foster had any restraining orders against him.

He said Stoughton police investigators and state police were still gathering evidence and information in the crime.